Firestorm
'''Firestorm 'is the tenth episode of the first season of [[The Orville|''The Orville]]. The episode features Lieutenant Alara Kitan confronting her fears in a "haunted" [[USS Orville|USS Orville]]. Plot Synopsis Act 1 The episode opens to the Orville in the midst of a fierce plasma storm. The storm damages the Engineering section, and Lieutenant Harrison Payne is crushed by a piece of fallen debris. Chief Engineer Steve Newton calls for Kitan to use her heightened Xelayan strength to lift the bulkhead. Just before reaching Payne, she is frozen in fear by the fire in front of her and he dies. Act 2 Blaming herself for failing to reach Payne before he passed, Kitan boxes in the Environmental Simulator. First Officer Kelly Grayson and Doctor Claire Finn tell Kitan that Payne would have died from blood loss anyway, but she insists that freezing from fear was inexcusable. Kitan goes to Captain Ed Mercer and attempts to resign, but he refuses and advises her that, if she is in emotional turmoil, to introspect. "Find out why you were afraid," he says. "Talk to your parents; talk to Doctor Finn." Kitan calls her parents to ask if she had a traumatic incident involving fire as a child. Her mother explains that when Kitan was an infant there was a fire in their home, and if not for Kitan's screams they could have been seriously hurt. Kitan exits her quarters and sees a man on the other end of the hall dressed as a clown, who runs into her before disappearing in the corner. Act 3 Kitan rushes to the bridge and announces that she may be mentally unstable. Mercer and Grayson are unsure if Kitan is hallucinating, and agree to watch video feeds of the ship's hallways. The ship's feed recorded the clown, and Kitan is vindicated. The crew suspects the clown may and they sweep the ship. In the Cargo Hold, the clown attacks Kitan and manages to wrest the Plasma Blaster from her. Kitan recovers her gun and shoots him. Unbeknownst to Kitan, the clown switched the setting from stun to kill; when Kitan fires on the clown, she inadvertently kills him. Act 4 The clown's ability to appear and disappear cannot be explained. A cautious Captain Mercer puts the Orville on Yellow Alert until they learn more of their intruders. Attempting to enter her quarters, Grayson nearly plummets down an infinite void that has replaced her room. Realizing the impossibility of these occurrences, Mercer speculates the crew may suffer a collective mental deterioration or mass hallucination. Bortus reports that he crushed an alligator in the Cargo Bay. Doctor Finn decides to conduct brain scans on the crew. Kitan goes to Sick Bay for her scans. Finn locks Kitan with specially-fortified restraints Act 5 Finn nearly begins to torture Kitan before she is able to break free. The Doctor is confined to the Brig, where the senior interrogates her. Finn mocks the crew, speaking only in foreboding riddles. The bridge crew holds an emergency meeting that is cut short by a swarm of tarantulas. Grayson speculates that the plasma storm may have severed ties between reality and "something else." With no better ideas, the Captain agrees to bring the Orville back on the chance that returning to the storm might end what it started. In the hallway, Kitan and Helmsman Gordon Malloy are accosted by an enormous arachnid monster. Kitan flees but Malloy is devoured, and none of the other crewmembers answers her message that Malloy is dead. Apart from the spider, Kitan is alone on the ship. Act 6 Kitan runs to engineering to try and raise the ship's shields and discovers Isaac, who claims he was about to do the same. Even though most power systems have failed, Isaac notes that communication scanners are functioning and can be checked to look for the fate of the other crew. While working together, Kitan confesses that she witnessed Malloy die. Isaac consoles her, then presses her to continue working before the monster returns. Alara points out she never told Isaac how Malloy died and realizes that Isaac is responsible. After a difficult hand-to-hand fight, Kitan manages to grab a gun and shoot Isaac. Convinced she must escape the ship, she proceeds to jog to the ship's Docking Bay to secure a shuttle. The audience is shown the real Mercer, Grayson, Finn and Isaac in the Holographic Simulator's control room, watching Kitan in the simulator run to the virtual Docking Bay. Kitan is locked in the simulator, Isaac explains that no one but Kitan is able to turn it off since she issued Protocol 38. The protocol gives the Head of Security complete jurisdiction over the ship in times of crises. Within the simulation, Kitan secures a shuttlecraft but the evil, simulated Isaac arrives, who ignites combustible materials near the bay's exit to send large flames across the entire deck. Kitan faces her fear of fire to drive the shuttle through the flames and exit the Orville, and the simulation promptly ends. Now back in reality, Mercer explains to Kitan that she came to him after speaking with her parents and requested Isaac to create a simulation to conquer any fears she may subconsciously harbor. Mercer chastises her reckless behavior, saying that use of Protocol 38 without just cause is an infraction worthy of court-martial. However, because of Kitan's exemplary performance over the last few months, Mercer said he would look the other way. The episode concludes with Kitan in bed, smiling from having now conquered her fears. Cast Main Cast *Seth MacFarlane as Ed Mercer *Adrianne Palicki as Kelly Grayson *Penny Johnson Jerald as Dr. Claire Finn *Scott Grimes as Lieutenant Gordon Malloy *Peter Macon as Bortus *Halston Sage as Alara Kitan *J. Lee as John Lamarr *Mark Jackson as Isaac Guest Cast *Larry Joe Campbell as Steve Newton *Rachael MacFarlane as Computer (voice) *Robert Picardo as Ildis Kitan *Molly Hagan as Drenala Kitan *Tim Mikulecky as Lt. Harrison Payne *Seth Austin as Clown Trivia * The creature who terrorizes the ship holds many striking similarities to the Deadlights/Pennywise the Dancing Clown from the Stephen King Novels the Dark Tower series and It respectively, transforming into it's victims greatest fears and often taking the form of either a frightening circus clown or a monstrous spider. (The creature's ability to transform into the greatest fear of the victim is similar to that of the Boggart in the Harry Potter novels). * Mercer mentions that it's been 6 months since taking command of the Orville. In the episode Old Wounds, we learn that Mercer assumed command in September, 2419. That means the events of Firestorm take place in March, 2420. * In production, the title of the episode was "Nightmares." Bloopers See also: Bloopers of The Orville. * When Commander Kelly Grayson nearly plummets into the void, she receives a large, red mark on her forearm. In the next cut, the mark has disappeared. Category:Episodes Category:Season 1